The Bobbsey Twins is probably the series
with the longest run of publication. Nearly a century old, it
was mainly produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a company
founded by Edward Stratemeyer (1863-1930) in 1905 to develop
series books and offer them to publishers.

The first Bobbsey
Twins title, The Bobbsey Twins; or, Merry Days Indoors
and Out, was written by Edward Stratemeyer and published
by Mershon in 1904. This book was considerably smaller
than the familiar formats of later editions and was a poor seller.

It was possibly reprinted by the Stitt
company in 1905 but positive evidence on this is lacking. The
Stitt company was formed when William L. Mershon
decided that he wanted to focus on the printing side of the business
as compared to the publishing side. One of his salesmen, William
Stitt, Jr., decided to establish a separate company which
would publish the Mershon titles under its imprint. Several of
the books owned by Edward Stratemeyer were published initially
or reprinted by Stitt, including his Rover Boys
volumes under his "Arthur M. Winfield" personal
pseudonym. The Stitt company failed after less than a year and
many of its titles were published once again under the Mershon
imprint. Among Rover Boys collectors, there is a phrase
"Mershon after Stitt" to identify printings which have
Stitt characteristics but were published by Mershon.

At the end of 1906,
a new publishing firm emerged with some connections to Mershon
and Stitt. It was called Chatterton-Peck and it
engaged in an ambitious campaign to publish a large number of
new titles from Stratemeyer along with reprints of the
former Mershon and Stitt titles. They signed contracts
with Stratemeyer to publish 19 titles in 1907. However,
the firm only published 13 of these and sold very few copies of
them. At least two Bobbsey Twins titles were published
by Chatterton-Peck, including the original book, first
published in 1904. The format is very similar to the Mershon
format. Volumes 2 and 3 in the series were written by Lilian
C. Garis (1873-1954) but it is uncertain if volume 3 was actually
published by Chatterton-Peck.

Stratemeyer was furious at the poor showing
by Chatterton-Peck and forbade them to publish any more
of his books. There is some evidence to suggest that some Rover
Boys volumes were printed with counterfeit cover dies according
to letters on file in the Stratemeyer Syndicate Records Collection
at New York Public Library. Stratemeyer made arrangements
to have his lines published by a relatively new firm, Grosset
& Dunlap. In an ironic twist, it was William L. Mershon
who told Stratemeyer that Grosset & Dunlap was looking
for new books to publish. They had previously been involved in
reprinting books from other firms.

Naturally, Chatterton-Peck was upset
that Stratemeyer would pull his books and offer them to
another publisher and there were a number of lawsuits and counter
suits which extended into 1908. A settlement was reached whereby
Stratemeyer would obtain the printing plates and he could
take his books to any publisher he chose.

Chatterton-Peck
immediately announced a group of new series to replace the ones
which Stratemeyer pulled. Several of these were similar
to the Stratemeyer series. Chatterton-Peck even
contacted three of Stratemeyer's writers to induce them
to write for the new series. One of these writers, Evelyn Raymond
(1843-1910) did continue writing a Dorothy series,
almost identical to the Stratemeyer-owned Dorothy Chester
series which was written by Raymond on Stratemeyer's
outlines. Howard R. Garis (1873-1962) and his wife Lilian
C. Garis were also asked to write for the new Chatterton-Peck
series and they informed Stratemeyer of the offer and apparently
did not write for any of the new series.

When Grosset & Dunlap published
the first three volumes in the Bobbsey Twins series in
1908, Stratemeyer had them re-typeset and re-designed to
resemble ordinary-sized books. Grosset & Dunlap would
continue to publish new Stratemeyer Syndicate volumes through
1979. However, after years of declining sales and lack of promotion,
Harriet Stratemeyer Adams (1892-1982), Edward Stratemeyer's
eldest daughter, decided to use a new publisher for new titles
in the Bobbsey Twins, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew,
Tom Swift and two other series.

Like Chatterton-Peck some 70 years earlier,
Grosset & Dunlap was upset over the loss of these popular
series volumes. Even though sales were diminishing, they were
still a substantial portion of Grosset & Dunlap's sales.
And like Chatterton-Peck, Grosset & Dunlap initiated
a lawsuit to try to hold the publishing rights for the series.
The judge's decision in the 1980 case affirmed the Stratemeyer
Syndicate's right to choose which ever publisher they wanted
for their new books. However, because of the prior agreements,
Grosset & Dunlap could continue to license the publication
of the books they had in print in 1979 which included 58 Hardy
Boys, 56 Nancy Drews, and 72 Bobbsey Twins.

With a little more than 70 years of publishing,
there were obviously a number of formats used by Grosset &
Dunlap for the publication of the Bobbsey Twins. This
factor is complicated by the revisions of the stories which began,
largely, in 1950. The purpose of this page is to illustrate the
major formats of the authorized and pirated editions
and to attempt to date them. More content will be added as new
discoveries are made by myself or from readers' contributions.
Please e-mail me if you have copies which are not illustrated
yet. If I do not have them, I may want to get a scan and description
from you.

Note: The Black Toy endpapers may have been used only on
some later titles. More information needed.Thus,
formats 16 and 17 appear to be simultaneous but simply with different
endpapers for particular volumes with some overlap when the supply
of printed sheets with the Brown Toy endpapers were exhausted.Volume 59 seen (as pictured) with volume number in
white as part of spine logo; all others in black below logo.

Grosset & Dunlap Format
#18 (~1971)

Distinguishing Characteristic: Purple-spine pictorial cover format with volume number
in black below black area on spine symbol. No white area behind
title.

Cover Stock: The cover stock is nylon cloth with a color picture
printed on the cover.

Note: Many volumes retained this dust jacket style until
the change in format to the purple-spine pictorial cover (Format
16) in 1963. Some volumes were redesigned into DJ format #5 with
a wraparound-style picture.

Grosset & Dunlap DJ
#5 (1956-1962)

Distinguishing Characteristic: Front cover illustration wraps around to spine, different
for each book.

Note: Many volumes retained DJ format #4 until the change
in format to the purple-spine pictorial cover (Format 16)
in 1963. Only part of the series was redesigned into this style
of dust jacket before the format change.

Wanderer Formats:

Wanderer Hardcover (1980-1983)

Distinguishing Characteristic: Hardcover with dust jacket.

Cover Stock: The cover stock is one of several colors of cloth.

Endpapers: blank

Illustrations: Frontispiece on plain paper stock.

Ads on back cover: none.

Volumes published: 1-9?

Wanderer Paperback (1980-1986)

Distinguishing Characteristic: Paperback.

Cover Stock: Paper

Endpapers: blank

Illustrations: Frontispiece on plain paper stock.

Ads on back cover: none.

Volumes published: 1-14

Other Authorized Formats:

Whitman Format #1 (1940)

Distinguishing Characteristic: Small picturebook with color label.

Cover Stock: The cloth is light green.

Endpapers: Blank.

Illustrations: Black and white illustrations by Henry E. Vallely.

Notes: Abridged story in 8 chapters and 94 pages, adapted
by Bennett Kline.

Whitman Format #2 (1950)

Distinguishing Characteristic: Hardcover with dust jacket.

Cover Stock: The cover stock is one of several colors of cloth.

Endpapers: illustrated with line drawings consistent with plot.

Illustrations: Frontispiece on plain paper stock.

Ads on back cover: none.

Volumes published: 1-3

Whitman Format #3 (1953)

Distinguishing Characteristic: Hardcover with cellophane coating.

Cover Stock: The cover stock is color-printed paper with cellophane
coating over boards.

Ads on back cover: "Fiction for Boys": West Point series
1-3, Annapolis series 1-3, Battleship Boys series
1-3; "Fiction for Girls": Thrilling Adventure
series (3), Bobbsey Twins series 1-3, Four Little Blossoms
series 1-3.